


Validation

by 100percentfluffster



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Blackwatch Era, Gabe isn't cruel, Gabe needs love, Jack Morrison bashing, Jack Morrison is judgmental and McCree is done with it, Jesse stands up for Gabe, M/M, McCree is second in command of Blackwatch, McCree isn't an idiot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-24 15:39:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18574474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/100percentfluffster/pseuds/100percentfluffster
Summary: “McCree, that was an order,” Gabriel growled out, still desperate for Jesse to just nod his head and pull the trigger. To not turn away from him now. Not after Gabriel had fallen so hard for the cowboy. Gabriel couldn’t help but remember all the times Jesse promised he’d have Gabe’s back, with a smile and a long kiss. The gifts and secret smiles.“I’m just asking, jefe.” McCree’s eyes had widened and Gabe saw the younger man’s empty hand twitch slightly as if he wanted to grab for his commander. Gabriel’s spine lost a semblance of its stiffness at the visual cue of McCree’s feelings. He scolded himself for comparing Jesse to Jack. Again.





	Validation

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry not sorry, but this is real Jack bashing. I've just never liked him and I'm not afraid to show it, but I am aware that he did good things and he's saved lots of lives. In my mind, he just lost a lot of his awareness after the omnic crisis ended. This is the result.

Gabriel watched Jesse hesitate. His stomach turned in self-disgust and loathing because of course, this would happen. He was stupid to think that Jesse could be everything that Jack wasn’t. It would always come down to this moment. No matter who and no matter what. 

Jesse’s gun stayed steady, pointed at the man’s head, but he turned to look at Gabriel with a carefully blank expression. “This the best way to do this, jefe?” he asked. His voice was as deep and rough as always and Gabe hated the way that he wanted to melt and give the younger man everything he had. 

But here was his worst fear once again staring back at him. Jesse would turn away from him just like Jack. It was only a matter of time before Jesse started to see the man that Jack saw every time the Strike Commander looked at Gabe. And he’d hoped… Jesse was careful where Jack was all stubborn resolve. The cowboy was easy grins and charm and so very different from Jack’s stiff bureaucracy. Gabriel had thought he’d found someone who would take his side and stay by him. Jack had said he would, but he’d left Gabe to the dogs after the war. Had stolen his job and done nothing but look down at him since. 

“McCree, that was an order,” Gabriel growled out, still desperate for Jesse to just nod his head and pull the trigger. To not turn away from him now. Not after Gabriel had fallen so hard for the cowboy. Gabriel couldn’t help but remember all the times Jesse promised he’d have Gabe’s back, with a smile and a long kiss. The gifts and secret smiles. 

“I’m just asking, jefe.” McCree’s eyes had widened and Gabe saw the younger man’s empty hand twitch slightly as if he wanted to grab for his commander. Gabriel’s spine lost a semblance of its stiffness at the visual cue of McCree’s feelings. He scolded himself for comparing Jesse to Jack. Again. 

Gabriel took a deep breath and took the moment to think about their options. If McCree wanted him to think it over, then he would. He refused to rule with no outside challenge or questions. Like Jack. Damn, why did it always come back around to goddamn Morrison? 

Gabriel looked at the couple members of his team in the room with him and then at the gun runner tied to the chair at the center. PeaceKeeper was still held a few inches from the criminal’s temple. Gabriel thought about his options and went through each detail, trying to find the best option for him and his team. He couldn’t allow anything to get back to Blackwatch or Overwatch. The man in the chair had killed dozens of innocents and the Blackwatch operations didn’t generally get solid cases for imprisonment, too much classified information. It was either remove the threat now or have to deal with the fall out later. Gabriel would be damned if he let this son of a bitch kill even more innocents just because they didn’t have the balls to do what was necessary. 

Gabriel shook his head and looked back at Jesse, who hadn’t removed his eyes from Gabe. He hoped, oh how he hoped, that his next words would be enough for Jesse. That Jesse would  _ trust _ him to make the right decision. Gabriel’s heart was in his throat as he spoke, voice gruff and carefully dismissive. “Shoot him, McCree. We’ve got the rest of a mission to finish and we can’t--” 

The blast of PeaceKeeper going off cut off Gabriel’s words. Jesse calmly holstered his weapon, eyes still on Gabe. He felt his mouth go dry. 

This is exactly what he’d always wanted. Someone to have faith in him. He understood second-guessing his decision, it’s always good to have the people under you keeping you in check, but he was desperate to have someone that would…. do what Jesse had always done since he came into Gabriel’s life. Put Gabriel first in a way no one ever had. Jesse’d seen him at his weakest and helped with a cocky grin and a bad joke. McCree didn’t begrudge Gabriel his need for constant reassurance or his hang-ups. 

Gabe always thought that this moment, the moment that Jesse showed with no doubt that he wasn’t Jack fucking Morrison, would leave him flush with satisfaction and validation. Instead, Gabriel was nearly brought to his knees by a truly  _ humbling _ rush of gratitude. It wasn’t the blood on McCree’s hands, the life he’d just taken at Gabe’s words, but the fact that once Gabe had made up his mind Jesse hadn’t hesitated.

Gabriel struggled to keep himself together for the rest of the mission. Still reeling at the wonder that was Jesse McCree. And once the two of them got to be alone behind closed quarter doors, Gabriel broke down in Jesse’s arms. Not in tears, but in every other fashion. He surrendered himself wholly to Jesse in every emotional manner he could. 

Jesse held him and kissed him and reminded Gabriel that he deserved good things. That the work he did was valid and necessary. That he was strong and a great leader. Jesse spoke to him in his drawling voice and never for a second gave Gabe any reason to doubt him. And Gabriel, for the first time in his life, truly didn’t. 

But that feeling of validation never came. Only a warm rush of love and appreciation and awe and terror and disbelief. He was humbled by every word out of McCree’s mouth and the very thought of McCree’s faithfulness. 

  
  
  
  


The validation came two weeks later in a routine meeting. Gabriel had spent the last weeks riding high on the absolution of his relationship with McCree. He knew without a doubt that he’d finally found the man that he could trust with everything. Who would challenge him but support him. Who wouldn’t hold the things his job made him do against him. 

Jack stood at all his 6’1” and scowled down at both Gabriel and Jesse. Jack looked too clean to be standing in Reyes’ office. The blue of the Overwatch uniform clashed with the black and red all around them. Jack looked like a glass doll that just got dropped in the too impersonal real world of destruction and blood and suffering. The sight of the man made Gabe’s jaw clench. 

Jack was shooting down every plan that Jesse and Gabriel threw out with no alternatives to offer. Jesse was sat back in his chair with a careful devil may care expression but Gabriel was quickly losing his cool. Jack was sending pointed looks at the two of them and Gabriel knew this wasn’t because of their plans. 

Jesse was a tactical genius and combined with Gabriel’s experience they were an unstoppable pair. Any of the mission parameters they’d presented so far would have worked, but Morrison just crossed his arms and sneered at them. “Any plans that don’t involve killing less than three men?” Jack demanded with his holier than thou authority. And oh, that’s what it was. The belief that Blackwatch was made up of murderers headed by the blackest soul alive, Reyes. 

Jesse tensed and his eyes finally lost that nonchalant affableness that he carried everywhere. Gabriel knew it was for his sake, not Jesse’s. Jesse had always had a far more grey morality than Gabe. He was used to the death count from Deadlock well before Blackwatch. But Gabe felt every death and Jesse damn well knew that. 

“Commander Reyes is just giving you what you asked for, sir.” Jesse smiled and tipped his hat. “You wanted the safest way in. You didn’t ask for a diminished casualty count or prisoners.” 

“Can’t it be assumed?” 

Jesse’s smile grew even wider and Jack blinked as he tried to process the malicious gleam in the cowboy’s eyes. “Can it, Strike Commander? Are you saying you’d rather endanger our lives, Blackwatch and Overwatch agents lives, over the security guards for a black market arms dealer?” 

“It’s our job to protect.” 

“Exactly. That’s what Commander Reyes is best at.” 

Jack scoffed and visibly had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. McCree went even tenser in his chair and Gabriel was unable to do anything but watch. 

“If I may speak freely, sir?” Jesse asked with a saccharine tone. 

Jack obviously sensed the danger and he looked at McCree with narrowed eyes but gave a jerking nod of approval. 

“It’s your responsibility to give your agents the best possible circumstances in which to do their job, yes?” McCree didn’t wait for an answer before he continued. “Blackwatch gets the short end of the stick there because you put no preparation into our missions. We get the worst of the worst and we’ve learned to do things by your specifications. These specifications: Get the Objective; Stay under the radar; Leave no witnesses; Don’t involve civilians unless necessary. So I don’t understand what part of your orders we’re not following. You said nothing of casualties or people this entire time. You’ve been focused on the objective and we’ve given you the options to get you there.” 

“All good agents know that human life is valuable, McCree!” 

“Of course. We save lives on a daily basis, sir. Actually, last time I checked the data, Blackwatch has a lower civilian casualty rate than Overwatch…. For the last five years.” 

“But the mission casualties are exponentially higher.” 

“Depends. Are you speaking agent casualty or enemy casualty? Because we have a lower percentage of agent injury and death than Overwatch. We do have a higher enemy death rate but are you saying we should prioritize enemy lives over this organization? Or the objective? That’s not in your instructions, and frankly, I don’t see the logic or wisdom behind it.” 

Jack looked frazzled and angry and Gabriel had to bite his lip to stop himself from smirking. Watching Jesse go to bat for him against Jack Morrison was satisfying. Jack Morrison was the boss of the boss but Jesse didn’t give a damn. He’d said many times that he was only here because Gabriel was. McCree didn’t give a damn if he got fired and wasn’t that a novelty? 

“The logic?” Jack asked, trying to keep up. 

“The logic behind prioritizing enemy life over ours. That’s what you’re asking us to do. Blackwatch is constantly sent into violent and volatile situations. Overwatch tac teams aren’t. Blackwatch has to deal with the repercussions of being sent places that are chalked full of weapons and high security. You can’t claim to expect any team to come out of those missions without some dead bodies.” 

“The whole point of a covert operation is to get in and out without notice. That includes the enemy!” 

“Covert operations aren’t possible for most of the missions you hand us.  _ Speaking freely _ , sir, maybe if you actually looked at the crock of shit you keep giving us you’d know that. As a leader, you shouldn’t be holding us to an impossible expectation, especially when it’s not one you want us to meet.” 

“Of course I want you to meet them!” 

“Is that why you sent us in unprepared to Ambassador Rulo’s embassy last month? because you wanted us to succeed in getting his ledger without blood? Because didn’t that particular death of that particular ambassador get you quite a bit of sway in the UN?” 

Gabriel smiled because McCree was smart, but he rarely let people know that he understood more of what was going on. Jesse had noticed the pattern of that job about the same time that Gabe did. Though where Gabe had been livid, Jesse had just been resigned. 

“You’re out of line, McCree!” Jack shouted. His tall stature didn’t seem so tall anymore with the way he was turning red in the face and hunching toward the table like he wanted to throw himself at McCree. Jesse just continued to lounge back in his chair and look at Jack. 

“I think this entire conversation has been about how we’ve been in line, actually. Inside  _ your _ lines.” 

“Gabe was the one to kill that ambassador, not me!!” 

Gabriel was both surprised and amused to see the way Jack so quickly fell into name calling and finger pointing. But he guessed the Strike Commander wasn’t used to being called out anymore. 

“ _ Commander Reyes _ ,” Jesse snarked with a bite to the title, “saved three agent lives and seven civilian lives putting buckshot through that man’s head. That’s his job.  _ Your  _ job was to make sure that we weren’t in the embassy during the man’s vacation. You dropped the ball on that one, sir. Reyes just made sure we got the objective _ as you ordered _ .” 

Morrison was breathing hard and gripping the sides of the table, clearly wanting to deny all involvement but not willing to dig himself into a deeper hole. Gabriel felt that missing sense of validation sweep through him and he nearly choked on it. Jack would never see the way Gabe was a good man, would always force Gabriel into being the foil to Morrison’s white knight no matter what life-saving feats he pulled off. But Jesse always saw that man. And here the cowboy was fighting for the recognition that Gabriel had given up on so long ago. 

Jesse’s hand made an aborted motion to take a cigarillo between his fingers that wasn’t there, but other than that he looked calm as ever. “So no, there isn’t a way in with a lower enemy casualty rate, unless you want to start changing your parameters. You let us know if you do that, and we’ll deliver. As we always do.” 

Jack straightened back up and he glared at McCree with the patented Disappointed Strike Commander expression that had never worked on Jesse or Gabriel and replied, “I’ll have your title revoked, Jesse.” 

Jesse shrugged and said, “Just gonna sack me and my three medals of valor? My near perfect mission success record? The rest of my team? Because you can be damned sure that if you fire me then you’re saying bye to the alpha strike team as well.” 

“Are you threatening me?”

“Only if you were threatening me. We could just call it all off as a misunderstanding between two friends, right Jack?” McCree smiled wide and insincere and Jack just stood there for a long moment looking at the man before him. Jesse eventually tired of the staring contest and he sighed as he leaned forward to rest his arms on his legs. “Look, Morrison, all I want is for you to pick a mission plan so we can all do our jobs. Be the heroes of the world or whatever Overwatch is supposed to be. Blackwatch is not your personal punching bag and it’s unfair to the dozens of agents who put their lives on the line for you day in and day out. And yeah, maybe a lot of us are former criminals and such, but you can’t preach about valuing human life and then treat us like attack dogs. We ain’t expendable and we sure as hell ain’t soulless gamuts. You keep dropping us into battle and expect us to fight our way out, fine, just don’t hold those deaths against us, because they’re on your hands too.” 

McCree looked like he was about to say more and Jack looked like he was a moment from pulling his service weapon, so Gabriel stood up and barked out, “McCree, you’re dismissed.” 

Jesse jerked in place for a moment but he pressed his lips together and stood with a lazy grace and a quiet jangle of spurs. “Yes, Commander. Strike Commander,” Jesse added with a salute before exiting the room. 

Gabriel fully turned to his ex-lover with validation shining in his blood and bolstering his confidence. Satisfaction crept into the curve of his smile and gleamed in his eyes as he looked at Jack. It didn’t fade away at Jack’s next words either, just continued to buzz underneath his skin. 

“You sure trained that one up great to be your loyal yes-man. Knew I shouldn’t have allowed you to have authority over the recruitment.” Jack looked frustrated and angry and roaring for a fight. 

“Think what you want, Jack. Nothing I’ve said in the past has changed that, I doubt anything I say now will; Jesse’s his own man and he says what he thinks. There was a time when you used to value people like that.” 

“He was insolent.” 

“He was  _ right _ .” 

“Gabe--” 

“You send us into no-win scenarios every day and expect us to come back with the sun shining out our asses. You hide behind us while we do your dirty work and yet look down at my men because of it. I’m done with that treatment, Jack. I don’t know if you really are that ignorant or if this is some sort of complicated attempt to get back at me for our past, but it needs to stop. We used to work well together, but that was before you started to think you were better than me.” Gabriel pointed at the hologram still blinking on the table. “Pick one of our outlines and let me know what you decide.”  Gabriel turned and walked back to the door leaving a silent and stunned Jack in his wake. 

Gabriel stopped just before the door and looked back over his shoulder. Jack was watching him with a heartbroken expression that felt like a sucker punch to the gut. Gabriel cleared his throat and said, “You come after McCree and Blackwatch will destroy you.” 

With that said, Gabriel opened the door and left the room feeling lighter than he had in years. Not because of any sort of realization, he knew what Jack was doing and he knew what Jack was thinking. No, this felt different because for the first time a person he trusted so implicitly had stayed by him despite the lives he had chosen to end, the blood on his hands, and the guilt staining his soul. Jack used to say he’d be there for him, back during the war. Used to say that Gabriel was a good man. Now though… 

Gabriel had given McCree the tattered remains of his heart and Jesse had said the same thing. Promised him the same things Jack had. But Jesse was everything Jack wasn’t. Gabriel smirked at the sterile hallway in vindication and validation. He’d been waiting years for that feeling. 

**Author's Note:**

> Just to be clear this wasn't supposed to be about McCree killing on Gabriel's command, this was them being in a morally ambiguous career and them dealing with it as a team. Blackwatch is bloody but they trust each other.


End file.
